Fighting the Storm
by EbonyJewel
Summary: Set after Conqueror of Shamballa. Amestris is working to get over the tragedies that have befallen the world over the past few years. Engaged, Roy Mustang and Gwenivere Bradley have had a big fight and while of trying to fix it, a storm hits.
1. Chapter 1

-1

Disclaimer: Gwenivere Bradley is mine. All Fullmetal Alchemist characters aren't.

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It was 8:30 at night in Central and the usually quiet Mustang Estate was filled with screams of a young woman and the Colonel himself. They had just come back from dinner early and it seemed to have gone all wrong. They had been fighting for half an hour and it had very little hope of ending well.

"If you really like all those women so much why don't you go and propose to them!" she screamed. Her platinum blonde hair that was tide up in intricate design now hung down her back that was uncovered by the haltered black dress she wore.

"I never said I liked them, Gwen. Where the hell did you get that idea?" he yelled back. His suit coat had been taken off the moment they'd entered the house and he now wore his dress shirt untucked.

"I'm not stupid Roy. We were there, what, ten minutes, and your eyes were all over her. I could talk all night and you wouldn't even notice I was there. Why do I even bother? I'm obviously not enough for you right?" Her ruby red eyes began to fill with tears as she stared back at Roy. She backed towards the door with her coat in hand, fists clenching.

"If it's so hard for you then why are you still here?" Roy shouted back, jaw clenched and with his hands in fists as well.

"Fine." She turned to leave.

"Gwen wait!" Roy said grabbing her arm but she pulled her arm away and kept going opening the door and stepping though the threshold.

"I'll be a little late for work tomorrow." With that, she closed the door.

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Tears blurred her sight as Gwenivere Bradley made her way somewhere she hadn't remembered planning to go. The estate where the diseased Fuhrer Bradley's wife stayed wasn't far but she couldn't go there. Her adoptive family had been through enough in the past couple of years. The man who took her in had done so only as tool incase his plan had somehow gone wrong. The little boy who had been like a brother to her was killed by the man who treated her like his daughter, Fuhrer Bradley. She had no way to comfort the women who treated her like family. Mrs. Bradley. Her head filled with thoughts of Ishval and her real family, who had treated her like dirt.

"I guess this is what my life was meant to be like." Gwenivere looked up to see that she was in front of Riza Hawkeye's house. Suddenly, the only thought left was getting there. She walked up the steps and ran the door bell. She didn't care what she looked like. She didn't remember when it had begun to rain but she heard Riza say something about being soaked when she answered the door. After a shower, Riza sat with her in her guest room and listened to her until she fell asleep.

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Riza Hawkeye sat in her living room comfy and content to spend a night to herself at home. She had had enough of the busy running around of work and wanted to spend a peaceful night watching a movie. Just as she was about to sit down with pop corn her doorbell rang. She hadn't expected any one to stop by but she was even more shocked to find Gwenivere Bradley at her doorstep crying and drenched from head to toe. She quickly ushered the girl in and helped get swarm and dry. She then brought her to her guest room to lie down. Gwen was in no condition to go home. Every time Riza moved Gwen clung to her for dear life.

"What happened?" Riza asked gently. She looked down into Gwen's eyes and found a lost stare unfocused on anything in that room.

"I'm such an idiot. I thought he'd only have eyes for me. How selfish can I be" she whispered.

"What do mean? Roy is head over heals for you, Gwen. Everyone can see it." Gwen turned over, facing the wall as Riza started to stroke her hair to calm her.

"I just don't know what to do anymore. How much more can I take? Riza, I feel like anymore of this and there won't even be pieces let this time."

Riza watched over Gwen remembering all that had gone wrong in the poor girl's life. It had started with her being shunned by her people because she could use alchemy. The Ishvallans saw her as strange so they stayed away from her. Then the war hit and she was forced to fight for her life with both Ishvallan and military seeing her as the enemy. Fuhrer Bradley took her in finding her abilities remarkable and a victim of the war not involved. Just when it was all suppose to have been over the war with the homunculi began and Gwen lost what she had left of a family. Riza saw her as a sister now that they had been close friends for the past few years. It hurt her to see the girl in so much pain. Turned out the lights and left the sleeping girl hoping to be able to get this mess solved the next day.

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Roy sat in his office dong paper work for once. The whole department was on edge since it seemed their colonel was on a rampage. Not a soldier could be found taking a break anywhere and Riza Hawkeye had had about enough of it. She stormed into the office and closed and locked the door.

"We need to talk. I don't appreciate sitting down for a movie to find my best friend in hysterics on my door step. What the hell did you do to her?" Riza walked up to the colonel's desk and stood before a brooding Roy Mustang.

"Hawkeye, don't you have work to do?" He snapped.

"I'd appreciate it if you didn't direct your anger at me. I didn't send you fiancé away. You did. The whole office is in a state of panic waiting for a bomb to go off thanks to the way you've been acting and Gwen has left for Resembool to spend time with the Rockbells for the weekend." Riza stood analyzing Roy. On the outside, most would see nothing but a cold stare but she knew better. In all the years that she had known him, Riza had learned to tell the difference. He was a wreck inside and this time, there was no running away or burying it beneath work. "Talk to me."

"It wasn't what she thought it was. I wasn't staring at any of those women I swear." Roy put down his pen and stacked the paperwork he'd just finished. He leaned back into his chair with a deep exhale.

"Then what the hell were you doing?" Riza moved back to sit and listen to her friend tell his side of the story."

"Jewelry." Riza stared at Roy in complete shock.

"That's it?" she was completely taken aback with his answer. In all the years that she'd known him, she had never known Roy to pass up an opportunity to look at beautiful women. That was a constant argument starter for him and the girl she had grown to consider her sister.

"I haven't seen her in months. She's been on mission after mission and I wanted to get her something special so I was taking in account what the majority of women in town seemed to have already. Then she got ticked and said she wanted to leave"

"You didn't look at one single other woman in that place" Riza looked a little skeptic. I wasn't that she didn't believe him about the jewelry but she knew he had a tendency to wander.

"Okay I waved at someone a few tables away but that was it." Roy stood up and looked out the window.

"Roy, you do realize what you've made her think right? You idiot." Riza had learned to expect stupidity from Roy. "You're going to have to fix this and soon."

"I know. I just haven't brought myself to face her." Roy turned from the window and stared back at Riza. "How is she?"

"Not much better than last night. She just found a way to keep inside. I'll be going back to work now." Riza turned and walked to the door and opened it.

"Riza" She stopped and turned her to the side to show she was listening. "Thank you." She nodded her head and continued out.

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Clouds remained in the sky, pouring buckets of water over Amestris. The cold air began to cause the rain to free over power lines. Merciless winds blew around making it hard for anyone to travel and with all the rain coming down a flood warning went out to the towns and cities that everyone should remain inside. The military assembled at Headquarters in case any civilians needed assistance and Roy Mustang sat in his office knowing that Gwen was somewhere in the storm that he couldn't reach her.


	2. Chapter 2

-1It was as if it had all happened in the blink of an eye to Gwen as she sat in the back of a cave somewhere between Central and Risembool. She had been there for only a few hours and was thankful that others had been on the train and survived the crash. Her first thought was to use alchemy as old habits die hard, but she quickly remembered that she was on her own.

"I'm a smart girl, I can figure this one out myself." she whispered to herself trying to forget the fact that she and the others could freeze to death out here where no one knew they had crashed. She sat and went through her memory of what occurred looking for any ideas on how to get to civilization.

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When this was all over she hoped that she and Roy would still be together but right now she needed time to clear her head. The best way for this was to get away from the office since there were no missions available and since the military owed her a few days off anyway. Her destination was Risembool home of the best automail mechanics Amestris had ever known, the Rockbells. It had been a while since she had seen them. She'd gone to see them when she was at her worst after her family had fallen apart, as Gwen referred to the disaster, and she had run off without thinking. They were the ones who talked her into pulling herself together and going back to Central. Riza had even come to get her. She needed them again for advice.

Gwenivere had left Riza's house early to get presentable for work and phone Winry to tell her she was coming over. She then went into work and announced her taking a few days off. She said she wasn't feeling well and everyone agreed she wasn't her cheery, spunky self so they let her go without protest. Gwen then returned home and packed a bag of a few things she would need and went to the train station. It had never occurred to her that she may have trouble coming back due to weather since it didn't seem cold enough to snow badly. She figured they'd stop the trains from leaving if it were to be that bad. She boarded the last train that was being accepted due to incoming storms later on in the day to Risembool and sat thinking about her fight the night before.

Her first thoughts were that she should have talked out her feelings instead of yelling and screaming accusations. Had she calmed down for two seconds maybe the fight would have ended differently. She kept hearing the words exchanged echoing in her head. Roy had always been there when she needed him most and this was how she treated him. Yes, his eyes did wander and yes he flirted a little but these were things that had declined for the most part since they had been together. Chances were that he was just being nice. It wasn't as if they were all new girls. She had been finding out that a lot of the time the girls were people who Roy met at some point in time. Maybe that was what irked her the most. These women may have known something about Roy that she didn't. As his fiancée, Gwen felt that it was her obligation to know everything. She knew logically that it was impossible but it still hurt to know that there was any part of his past that she couldn't reach. Just as Gwen started to dig deeper into her thought on her actions the train jerked and she flew out of her seat. The breaks of the train screeched as the tried to stay in control but it was of no use. The train somewhere along the way lost the tracks and slid across the snow. Passengers screamed in fear until they came to a stop where people were able to hold in some of their fear.

An attendant came around checking if anyone was hurt and trying to keep the passengers calm. Gwen had no intention of staying still anywhere. Her heart was racing as she looked around. The train seemed to be in the middle of the woods. No sign of life but plenty of ice graced land. She looked back at the tracks and saw that there were thick layers of ice along the tracks from the previous night's rain and the current day's drop in temperature. The attendant said something about reaching the station and walked off to the hall at the end of the cart. There had been no children on the train thank goodness since they'd have just been getting to school it being early winter and all however there were about fifteen passengers. Gwen wondered how long they could stay in the train before they'd have to search for help closer than that of Central if there could be no help in time for the limited supply to run out in the on-coming storm. Their best bet was to try and wait for the storm to pass since chances of their surviving in the storm were slim to none.

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That had now been 3 days ago. The food wasn't meant to last long but since there were so few travelers, it was able to be stretched. That time was coming to an end. A cave was located and had now been taken over by the passengers. The storm had passed, making it impossible to stay out in sight of the train which was no longer a barrier against the cold since the crash had broken the windows. Gwenivere found herself wishing Roy were there to hold her close and tell her everything would be okay. She stayed sitting in her spot at the far side of the cave, curled up.

Gwenivere looked up to see a stranger approaching her from the small crowd of people huddling around the coals salvaged for a fire. The woman had been eying her for the past few days, not speaking a word to Gwenivere, but having plenty to say to everyone else. Gwenivere's first thought was to be on guard. It wasn't completely uncommon for people to feel hostility toward her, after all she was still an Ishvallan, and many men had died in the war. Fortunately, the woman was smiling at her. Gweniever relaxed a little.

"Aren't you Colonel Mustang's girlfriend?" she asked. Gwenivere stared in disbelief. 'How could this woman be thinking about gossip at a time like this?' she thought.

"Fiancée, actually," Gwen answered.

"My goodness that is wonderful. Congratulations. I never thought the Colonel would ever settle down. You must be one amazing girl." she giggled. "I'm Angela, by the way, Angela Smith. I'm an old acquaintance of your fiancé. How funny, yesterday I saw the two of you at a restaurant and now I get to meet you in person." Gwen took this time to really see the girl in front of her. She was pretty, Gwen thought, with her blue eyes and light brown hair. It made Gwen think of her own appearance which on a regular basis she didn't think was anything special and she hated to see what she looked like now. "I really just came over to tell you that the conductor was able to get a signal out."

"Thank you," Gwenivere said softly, "I appreciate you coming to tell me yourself. Everyone else seems to shy away from me." With a smile, she stood up from her spot. "So is there a reason why I'm being treated like I have a disease?"

"Well, its not that they're afraid you, but they are skeptic. You are Gwenivere Bradley right?" Angela replied. She had lowered her voice to a whisper so that no one could hear their conversation. Gwen nodded and continued to listen. "Well, there are people who seem to think that you're cursed or something with you being an Ishvallan and the fiasco with the military. It doesn't take much for people to jump to superstitions. Pay no attention to it. You just worry about getting back to your fiancée alright. I'll be around if you need me." With that Angela walked back to the rest of the passengers.

Gwen was sick of sitting around waiting. It wasn't her type of action but she had chosen to stay with the group. Now, after three days, she was sick of it. She went for a walk to see if there was anyone close by that could help them.

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Roy sat in the tank that was braving the forest's unleveled terrain. The storm had passed and he had been allowed to accompany the rescue team sent to search for the passengers of the train that had gone missing a few days ago. It had taken one nasty right hook from Hawkeye to get him to wait until the storm was over before looking for it but he had. Now he was ready to find his fiancée, hold her and never let her go.

"Sir, we've received a signal. It is believed to be from the survivors." Riza said from her seat in front of him. We are about an hour away from the position."

"Continue on towards that location." Roy ordered. He may have sounded perfectly calm but inside he was a total wreck. It had been a long three days. He and Gwen had argued the last time they spoke and it had been his fault. Different scenarios went through his head of how he would find her. Most ending in her being dead when he got there. He could only hope that he could have a chance to make things right.

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It was starting to get cold for the night. Gwen looked around as she stood not far from the cave she had been inhabiting the past few days. Her walk had helped to get any restlessness she had out of her system. Staying out too long would cause her more problems than she felt necessary. As she neared the cave she heard a scream coming from where she knew the passengers were huddled hoping to be saved. She raced back to them to see what had happened. Skidding to a sudden halt, she stood behind a bear that seemed angry enough to attack the people skittering to gain some distance. Without thinking, Gwen picked up a rock on the ground and threw it at the bear. With her luck, it hit it on the nose rather than hitting the spot on its head.

The bear spun around quickly to face its attacker. With this chance some of the people began to make their way in whatever direction they could.

"Wait! We have to help her." Angela screamed as she looked frantically for something to use.

"Leave her be. There's nothing you can do for her without making the situation worse." yelled a man as he dragged Angela way.

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Roy had resisted all suggestions to turn back for the night. Yes, he knew he needed to take a break. While everyone else had taken different shifts through out the days, Roy had gone out everyday, with almost every shift. He'd tried going to sleep but he'd found that it only lead to waking up in cold sweats and the image of Gwenivere's grave fresh in his mind. Just when he was about to tell Riza to turn back he saw movement up ahead.

"Sir, I think we've found the passengers." Hawkeye yelled. Roy was out of the tank as soon as he could and rushing towards the people running. Riza wasn't far behind.

"Colonel Mustang!" a voice screamed. Roy looked out to see Angela Smith running with panic all over her face. "It's a bear! It's gone after Gwenivere." She broke down in tears. "I didn't know what to do." Roy instantly prepared himself to face the worst.

"Riza, make sure everyone is accounted for." he yelled as he pulled out and loaded a gun from the tank.

"Sir, let me come with you. The others can…" Riza started but Roy had already taken off. She sighed and got her own gun ready. Within minutes she had given the command for the other soldiers to take the people back to town and for them to leave a truck for her to get back with. She then took off after Roy.

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It had felt like she had been running for miles. Her legs burned but she had to draw the bear away. At that moment, she wished she could use alchemy more than ever before. She never knew how dependent she'd become on it until the gate was sealed. The bear had tried to go back, she figured in search of food but she couldn't chance it going back towards the cave. She picked up another rock and threw it. The bear charged at her and almost had a direct hit but Gwen leapt over a fallen tree and ran a few yards. It all happened to fast for her to react well enough. A root had snagged her foot and as she tried to shift her wait and turn she felt a sharp pain spread from her ankle. With her frantic struggling, her foot came loose but she lost her balance and the bear was already close enough to harm her. She had no time to brace her fall the bear swiped at her with its claws. She felt pain on the back of her skull and something loud resounding through the woods.

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Roy rushed to Gwenivere's side. Hawkeye walked around making sure the bear had been scared off by the warning shots she'd fired. The image of Gwenivere lying on the ground motionless made his insides furiously jostle around in utter revulsion. She wasn't dead, he kept telling himself. His head moved to listen to her breath and his hands moved to check her pulse. He was relieved to find that she was alive and quickly went to assessing the damage. The clothes she wore had slashes in them from where the bear had managed to get a hit as well as small holes made from branches and bushes. Her skin was littered with cuts and bruises from he to toe. Then Roy's blood turned cold as he found the rock beneath Gwen's head and the blood that had begun to stain the ground.

"Sir! We need to get her out of here now. She's losing a lot of blood and fast."

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End file.
